From Reuters: Prime commercial property in the United States and Asia-Pacific is more attractively priced on a five-year horizon than that in Europe and Britain, a new property index showed on Wednesday.
DTZ’s Fair Value Index gives the outlook for U.S. prime property a so-called ‘hot’ rating of 89 on a scale of 0-100, against Europe’s (including the UK) ‘warm’ 49, the UK’s ‘cold’ 38, and Asia-Pacific’s ‘hot’ 67……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From AFP: US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Tuesday that the government must bolster the embattled American housing sector to avoid more damaging recessions in the future.
“Without such support, the risk is that future recessions could be more severe because the financial system would not have the capital to support mortgage lending on an adequate scale,” he said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Marketoracle.co.uk: The recent chaos that erupted when 30,000 people waited hours in the Atlanta, Georgia heat to receive applications for subsidized housing is a mere symptom of a worsening national problem.
The housing market appears to be on a never-ending downward spiral, with the much-discussed “recovery” always around the next corner……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Benzinga.com: Old habits are hard to break, and in the United States of America, there are few “habits” as common as mortgage-fraud. In 2006, the world discovered that the U.S. housing market was the most-fraudulent market in history. However, since that time, even that level of fraud has been surpassed – by the U.S. housing market of 2010.
Incredibly, four years after learning that the U.S. housing market was the global fraud-capital, U.S. mortgage-fraud has continued to increase every year……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Bloomberg: Work began on fewer homes than forecast in July and building permits fell to the lowest level in more than a year, indicating little evidence of a rebound in U.S. construction following an expired tax credit.
Housing starts totaled 546,000 at an annual rate last month, less than the 560,000 median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News and up 1.7 percent from June, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Building permits dropped 3.1 percent to a 565,000 pace……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From WSJ: Not everyone who believes in the future of green buildings can build one themselves, but investing in real estate companies that share this conviction is an increasingly viable option.
Real estate companies and real estate investment trusts have been boosting the environmentally friendly credentials of their buildings, often turning to the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Montrealgazette.com: Improving debt markets and lower interest rates helped to drive up commercial property transactions in Canada, according to a new survey from real-estate company CB Richard Ellis Ltd.
The company said transactions through the first six months of this year were worth $7.8 billion, a 60.2-per-cent improvement over the $4.9 billion for the year-earlier period. There were 2,243 commercial transactions through the first six months of this year, up from 1,565 a year earlier……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Nationalpost.com: Housing sales were down 30% in July from a year ago, and the Canadian Real Estate Association is blaming the drop on the new harmonized sales tax in Ontario and British Columbia.
The Ottawa-based group, which represents 100 real estate boards across the country, said July sales plunged 6.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis from the previous month, a decline “almost entirely the result of fewer sales in British Columbia and Ontario,” where the HST went into effect on July 1……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Propertyeu.info: European retail real estate investment turnover amounted to EUR 15.7 bn in the first six months of 2010, a 15% increase on the EUR 13.6 bn reported in H2 2009, according to the latest research from CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).
Retail investment transactions accounted for 35% of the EUR 45.1 bn transacted in the European commercial real estate market in H1 2010, with core Western European markets such as the UK and Germany dominating activity, together accounting for almost 60% of the total……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From WSJ: Was that the recovery? Judging by the latest round of reports from European property companies and tracking services, growth in property values is rapidly slowing as rents and demand for property show signs of declining in some markets.
The latest data published by research group Investment Property Databank show that property values in the U.K. have grown 15.4% since August 2009 and about 7% this year. But the growth in property values has been slowing for the past four months; in July, U.K. property values barely budged, rising just 0.2% from the previous month……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Propertyeu.info: Top-ranked London City offices and West End retail are two of just three hot markets in the UK, according to a new index launched by real estate adviser DTZ on Tuesday. But many UK commercial property markets are over-priced, the adviser warned.
In Europe, Paris CBD offices rate as warm, while the Barcelona office market is in the cold zone, the adviser said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Propertywire.com: The Asian real estate investment market showed signs of continuing to make steady improvement in the first half of 2010 with direct real estate investment in the region rising 136% year-on-year to an estimated US$30 billion, a new report shows.
But although activity levels rose significantly in virtually every Asian market as measured on a yearly basis, investment volume fell by 22% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter as investors turned more cautious following the implementation of various measures by governments around the region intended to curb speculative activity……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Indiatimes.com: IL&FS Investment Managers (IIML), the country’s largest private equity fund, is close to exiting at least six of its investments, mainly in the real estate sector by the end of the current fiscal.
The private equity firm, with over $2.8 billion of assets under management, will raise around Rs 1,500-2,000 crore through the exits, which are mainly due to the maturing of the investment horizon, according to vice chairman Shahzaad Dalal. The returns could average 25-30% from the real estate investments that were made about five years ago……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Officials throughout China must work to stabilise the real estate market after property prices shrugged off a tightening campaign and rose in July, the powerful central planning agency said.
Property prices rose 1.6 percent in July from a month earlier to an average of 8,680 yuan ($1,276) per square meter, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in announcing the results of its survey of 36 large- and medium-sized cities……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Dailyfinance.com: Imagine that your local city and county controlled all land rights, and the only ownership a private builder or developer could secure was a long-term lease. Now imagine that 40% of the city and county’s revenues come from the lease fees paid by developers.
Next, imagine a giant real estate bubble has priced most residents out of the market, and that the local governments are reaping huge gains as the development rights and leases they sell are skyrocketing……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Reuters: Hong Kong auctioned two pieces of land on Tuesday at prices that trounced expectations, sparking concern that overheating may continue to threaten the property market even after the government’s recent cooling measures.
The auctions, the government’s fifth so far this year, came during stock trading hours and helped push up the property sub-index .HSNP more than 1 percent before easing to end 0.5 percent higher, outperforming the Hang Seng Index’s .HSI 0.12 percent gain……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Vovnews.vn: Real estate investors are allowed to mobilize capital and sell a certain proportion of their products unlisted on the trading floor as of August 8 when a government decree that guides the implementation of the Housing Law took effect.
Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tran Nam says the new decree has introduced stipulations to minimize risks in the real estate market and encourage healthier growth in the sector……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Property-report.com: The Royal Group of Cambodia has unveiled its visionary Master Plan to transform the pristine island of Koh Rong into Asia’s first environmentally planned resort destination.
A six-month study by MAP Architects of Hong Kong and environmental consultants Scott Wilson produced the exciting vision for “one of the last undiscovered paradises in South East Asia”……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Smh.com.au: The RBA is still backing it, but Morgan Stanley chief economist Gerard Minack has lost faith in the fundamentals of Australia’s housing market.
Morgan Stanley’s Gerard Minack has diversified from being bearish about US equities into calling Australian housing a dud investment, a bubble, albeit one that just might steadily deflate rather than dramatically pop……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From 3news.co.nz: The number of Kiwis investing in residential property has declined significantly for the first time in years, a Nielsen survey has found. In 2009, one in four of those surveyed said they intended to buy residential property as a future investment; 12 months later it is in stark contrast – just one in seven have the same intentions.
Specialist property lawyer Greg Towers says the real estate market report confirms what those in the industry have been observing……………………………………….Full Article: Source